


Nothing's Set In Stone

by exorarepairings



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst, Breaking Up & Making Up, Fluff, Geology, M/M, Reuniting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26916451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exorarepairings/pseuds/exorarepairings
Summary: After 6 years, Yixing meets Kyungsoo again.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Zhang Yi Xing | Lay
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Nothing's Set In Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I have been in a love/hate relationship with this fic for the past few months while writing it and so I'm only able to submit part one at the moment(the other parts will follow soon!!). Thank you so much to the dear mods who've worked so hard and have been so supportive. And also a big shout out to whoever prompted this! XingSoo is a joy to write and I especially loved your prompt. I don't think this is what you had in mind, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless! This year has been a year of constantly challenging myself and I'm super proud of this fic so I hope everyone enjoyed reading! Comments and kudos are appreciated!

Part I

Yixing walked through the entrance of the conference hall, his shoes clacking as they met tiles. It was bright inside compared to the dusk that covered the city of Seoul and her streets, footpaths only lit with street lamps, and it burned Yixing’s tired eyes until they adjusted. With the fatigue that usually accompanies travelling, Yixing knew he’d be in for an early night, especially if he didn’t want to miss some of the first talks of the conference.

The offer of giving the speech had been sudden, but Yixing wasn’t ever going to turn down a chance to talk about his research to people who would likewise be interested in his findings. Being a geologist had it’s shortcomings when half of the students he taught about the subject tended to drift off unless he included witty jokes and weird and wonderful facts, not that he blamed them, the real joy is in the research and the field work after all. When Yixing was in the field he could spend hours upon hours photographing, writing, and categorizing different rocks.

As much as he hated to say it, rocks, well, rocked.

He knew his parents considered him weird and strange for his interest in rocks, they’d rather he become a doctor or lawyer, but he didn’t care for those careers. Hell, he could never imagine himself doing well with the pressure of someone else’s life in his hands, whether that be in a hospital or a courthouse.

Rocks were less pressure. They rarely moved and were not easily destroyed and often contained so many mysteries and hidden secrets of the past.

Inner monologues about geology and rocks aside, Yixing was about to meet Junmyeon who often teamed up with him on projects and such. He’d known Junmyeon for years and it had been over a year since they’d last seen each other so Yixing thrummed with excitement. Or maybe fatigue? He honestly couldn’t tell anymore, with the exhaustion set deep in his muscles, he felt extremely sleepy.

He’d made the fatal mistake of wearing a suit on the flight, which was now all crumpled and probably sweat stained—definitely sweat stained, he could unfortunately feel it—and Yixing could also feel his hair had begun to clump together in a way that it only usually did when he’d neglected it for a few days. He’d washed it this morning, but the travel induced stress and humid flight had evidently gotten to it and it looked like a nest.

“Yixing!” Junmyeon called from across the simple white lobby, wearing a wrinkled suit minus the tie with his round-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. He smiled at Yixing infectiously and Yixing couldn’t help but return it.

“Hey Junmyeon,” said Yixing, sounding tired and weary but happy to see him nonetheless. They swung their arms around each other, Junmyeon squeezing Yixing tight around the middle and making him weeze. “It’s good to see you.” Yixing patted his back, hoping for his breath back anytime soon but also enjoying the comfort of his friend’s arms.

Junmyeon pulled back and took Yixing in, eyes honing in on the dark circles under Yixing’s eyes and the tight line of his lips. “Oh boy, long flight?”

“Don’t you know it,” sighed Yixing, not that it actually was a long flight from Shanghai to Seoul, but with several screaming children and a poor night’s sleep, any flight would feel agonisingly long. “I’m looking forward to hitting the mattress in a bit.” He ruffled his hair and winced—he’d definitely be showering first.

“I’ll show you where you’ll be doing your talk and then we can head to the hotel so you can rest!”

Junmyeon gestured across the lobby, and said, “The room is this way—well, I say room, but it’s more like an auditorium. Lots of seats, and—It’s the biggest hall that they have.”

They began walking slowly, shoes clacking against the floor, Yixing wheeling his suitcase along, occasionally his foot bumped into it and made him trip slightly. He would usually grumble at himself but he chose to ignore it in favour of giving Junmyeon his last drop of attention as he spoke about the conference—the types of events and speeches lined up, the schedule. Yixing had already taken in the information from the posters and such online, but it was nice to hear it from someone who was directly involved in organising the conference.

“Anyone I should look out for in the programme?” asked Yixing, it was something that he’d thought about on the flight. He hadn’t given it that much attention, but he figured that Junmyeon would know. “I noticed that there were some speakers names’ missing.”

The hallway seemingly went on for forever, and with the ache in his muscles, Yixing hoped they’d reach the room soon.

“Oh, yes!” Junmyeon exclaimed. “There’s a brilliant researcher by the name of—” He paused, mind ticking as he tried to remember the name; he never was great at remembering names. “Do Kyungsoo! Yes that’s it. I haven’t had the pleasure of being introduced to him yet because Minseok has been squirreling him away from me, but some of his papers are fascinating. I especially want to ask him about…”

Yixing’s mind short circuited at the name—Do Kyungsoo. Surely, it wouldn’t be him, would it? His—not his anymore—Kyungsoo. The Do Kyungsoo whom Yixing had spent most of the past 6 years desperately trying to forget, or at least trying to heal his broken heart. Their bittersweet ending haunted his dreams since, but recently he hadn’t thought of his past love and at the very mention of a name all those memories and feelings came crashing down on Yixing in his tired state.

“Yixing?” asked Junmyeon, breaking Yixing from his inner monologue. “We’re here.”

And sure enough, there were the doors to the auditorium. Pushing the doors open, Yixing breathed in the wide breadth of the room. There were hundreds of chairs and Yixing blanched at the possibility that so many people might be listening to his speech but realistically knew only half would be filled at most.

“Wow,” breathed Yixing.

Junmyeon chuckled. “Yeah, there was a lot of interest in your research so we figured that the auditorium would suit.” He walked in front of Yixing, leaning on one of the arms of the red cushioned chairs, looking nervous all of a sudden. “I didn’t want to ruin the surprise, but you’re one of our main speakers.”

Yixing snapped his gaze to Junmyeon who was smiling sweetly at him as if he hadn’t dropped a bomb on Yixing. Even though Yixing felt nervous, it was astonishing that anyone would consider him for such a position. He felt like such a small fry in the scope of geologist researchers and academics.

“That’s—that’s such an honour, Junmyeon,” said Yixing, dazedly. “I don’t know how to thank you properly.”

“It’s nothing that you should thank me for! Another colleague of mine is dying to meet you—Kim Minseok, you might know him?”

“His essays are some of the best I’ve read,” said Yixing, excitedly. It felt like a dream that Kim Minseok of all people looked up to him, Zhang Yixing. “God… I’m speechless.” Yixing laughed, the sound echoing in the quiet auditorium.

So, he’d be giving a massive speech here in a few days as a key speaker, and meeting Kim Minseok? Yixing’s sleep deprived brain couldn’t grasp the fact, he used to spend hours pouring over Dr. Kim’s papers, had soaked in every drop of research and information and committed most of it to memory. Hell, he had copies of said papers littered around his apartment, all dog-eared with numerous coffee and wine stains. Yixing cherished them, and was always racing to read his new research papers.

“I should get some sleep,” insisted Yixing, his enthusiasm making Junmyeon laugh again.

“Sounds like a plan. With the week that’s in it, you’ll need all the rest you can get!”

With that they left, and Yixing checked in to the hotel. They departed at the elevator—Yixing’s room was a few floors above Junmyeon’s—and after Yixing had showered, he sunk into the mattress. Not even the prospect of meeting Dr. Kim could keep him awake after his travels.

-

It’s well into the next morning—Yixing cradling a coffee to his chest hoping it’ll magically clear away his residual fatigue—when he hears that name again.

“Do Kyungsoo will be speaking on Thursday, right?”

Yixing has never been one to overtly eavesdrop, but it made him pause in his steps as he walked through the conference centre. The two men having the conversation went on about this ‘Do Kyungsoo’ and his research, but—no—Kyungsoo didn’t even study geology. he’d been lumped into Yixing’s geology class because there were no other culinary classes he could take and being an exchange student left him with few options. It wouldn’t make sense if this Kyungsoo and the Kyungsoo Yixing knew were the same.

Even if it were him, the odds were slim and Yixing reminded his shoulders to drop and relax again. Kyungsoo’s name was seemingly haunting Yixing like a ghost, and it gave Yixing a sickly feeling in his stomach. What would even happen if they saw each other again? How would Yixing react?

The conflicted feelings of the past were beginning to rise up and Yixing took a sip of his coffee as he reminisced.

-

_“Excuse me?” A man with boyish round cheeks was trying to catch Yixing’s attention._

_Yixing had been aimlessly daydreaming about what he’d have for lunch that day, stomach having already burned through most of his breakfast. If there were any one way to describe Yixing at university it was: always hungry._

_Yixing startled from his thoughts, “Oh? Yes?” He blinked owlishly at the man._

_“Is this the geology class on—” He looked at the piece of paper in his hand. “—the geological evolution of China?” Yixing noticed his Chinese was a bit slow and unpracticed but Yixing could understand him perfectly and nodded along as he spoke._

_“Yeah,” said Yixing, grinning at the other. “Are you in your third year too? I don’t think I’ve seen you in any of the classes.”_

_The man looked surprised by his question, taking a moment to formulate an answer in his mind. “No, I’m an exchange student. And I’m actually a culinary student, but I needed to take more classes.”_

_“Ah! An exchange student? Where are you from?” Yixing asked, he was always up to making more friends, and the chance to make friends from other countries didn’t come up often._

_“Korea,” the boy answered, with a shy smile on his lips. “My name is Kyungsoo. What’s yours?”_

_“I’m Yixing! It’s nice to meet you, Kyungsoo.”_

_With an offer of the seat next to him, Kyungsoo gladly conversed with Yixing and Yixing made sure to take care to slow his words and pronounce everything in standard Chinese just so Kyungsoo didn’t have to stress about those things. Yixing knew that learning new languages wasn’t easy and he wanted to grant Kyungsoo the means to learn the language, not stress over it._

_Plus, Kyungsoo seemed to have an extensive vocabulary pertaining to food and this made everything a little bit easier._

_And thus, began a budding friendship._

-

Sure, their beginning wasn’t exactly the most poetic, or romantic but it still brought a flicker of nostalgia and some other indescribable feeling to the forefront of Yixing’s chest. He sighed as he entered the huge exhibition hall—was this really the time to be going down memory lane? He’d spent nights, weeks, months, ruminating over their relationship. Was that not enough? Had he not tortured himself enough?

Simply by hearing his name, the scab on Yixing’s broken heart had split open once more. Self-hatred and tears were all that ever leaked out whenever it opened up and yet, Yixing had never gotten that peace that time should bring. He drifted over to a table to do with tourism and mountains in Korea, but his mind couldn’t process the words.

His coffee had grown bitter on his tongue.

Their break up hadn’t been Yixing’s fault but that fact failed to ease Yixing’s worries. He didn’t want to be a disgusting ex in Kyungsoo’s eyes for putting the last nail in the metaphorical coffin, but he wouldn’t blame the other for thinking about Yixing like that. The bitter loneliness and silence that pervaded after break ups was alone, enough of an environment to cultivate a dissatisfied outlook on someone, but Yixing had changed his number after the unconventional break up. Too sick to his stomach, afraid Kyungsoo would send something too full of truth, too afraid that Kyungsoo left without a goodbye because he had grown to despise Yixing.

Their situation truly had grown twisted and uncertain.

In the end, Yixing was only human and had loved Kyungsoo too much to face any more pain that might have come. Kyungsoo being out of reach in Korea felt too painful, even more so without a farewell.

“Yixing!”

He turned to the sound of his name—but another memory invaded his mind. A memory that Yixing knew intimately, could never even dream of forgetting, that had nestled it’s way into his heart and made a home for itself.

-

_“Yixing!” Kyungsoo's voice floated throughout the noisy bar that was packed with people. Yixing turned to see his friend making his way to where Yixing sat at the bar. He lifted a hand up to Kyungsoo, smiling as the other made it through the crowd unscathed._

_They idly chatted about their days while Kyungsoo waited for his drink. It was mid-week, a student discount night at the bar, and Yixing knew they’d be less than ready for their geology class in the morning, but he wanted a reason to hang out with Kyungsoo more. The man was simply magnetic and Yixing, more often than not, found that he wanted to be in Kyungsoo’s company._

_Yixing knew, deep down, that he wanted more than friendship with Kyungsoo, but he hadn’t planned on saying it anytime soon. They’d only been friends for 3 weeks after all._

_But then, as Yixing cracked a joke, Kyungsoo laughed so beautifully and the twinkle in his eyes pushed Yixing to do the risky and stupid thing he told himself he wouldn’t do._

_“Will you go out with me sometime?” Yixing asked. He didn’t need to shout with how close they were sitting next to each other._

_“Hm? But aren’t we out right now?” Kyungsoo replied._

_Yixing wouldn’t have minded hiding himself in a hole, but he soldiered on._

_“No, I mean-” he hesitated. A whole friendship was on the line here. One that yixing wasn’t sure he wanted to lose. Why did he open his mouth- “Will you go on a date with me?”_

_Kyungsoo pulled back and stared at Yixing, unnervingly, for a minute—perhaps thinking, Did he say what I thought he said?_

_Had Yixing been too presumptuous? Yixing had a scary moment where his heart fell through the floor before he could catch it and he opened his mouth to take it back, maybe preparing to say “haha, got you!” but Kyungsoo beat him to it,_

_“Sure, I’d love that.” Kyungsoo’s smile made Yixing’s chest hurt as the words slowly washed over his senses, and sunk into his mind._

-

Yixing’s heart hurt even as he turned to see Junmyeon walking towards him, the memory overwhelming to think about. Kyungsoo wasn’t easy to forget and his heart was demanding when in pain.

“Hi, Junmyeon,” said Yixing, pasting a smile onto his face before taking another sip from his coffee.

“Good morning!” chirped Junmyeon. He was always cheerful, even first thing in the morning—Yixing didn’t know how. “Are you ready for the first talk of the day?”

Yixing couldn’t help the yawn that stretched his lips, as if his brain had wanted to show Junmyeon how ready he was—not very—as opposed to letting Yixing voice it. he quickly covered it with a hand, laughing at the playful eye roll from Junmyeon.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” answered Yixing. “Although, I have to say, that stall over there looks riveting.” He nodded to a stall which had mounds of soil on it—you can always trust avid academics to go all-out when it came to their area of study.

Junmyeon scoffed a laugh, trying to cover it up with a cough. “Some people really go the extra mile…” He sent Yixing a pointed stare and Yixing knew what he’d bring up, sighing quietly before Junmyeon could begin. “I vaguely remember you nearly breaking your back carrying maybe 30, 40 rocks for your stall in Shanghai one year? You’re lucky the conference was in Shanghai instead of Seoul—there was no way they’d let you on the plane with all those.”

“Hey! I was young and still had blood instead of coffee in my veins.” Yixing defended himself before muttering, “My back still hurts from that…”

Junmyeon laughed, gently patting Yixing’s back.

“A little bird told me that Dr Kim Minseok will be attending this talk…” said Junmyeon. He smiled as Yixing perked up at the mention of the doctor. He knew that Yixing had a fondness for Dr Kim’s work seeing as Yixing himself knew he rarely shut up about his work.

“Why didn’t you say so sooner?” asked Yixing, a certain reverence in his voice.

Yixing sped them up, ignoring any teasing that Junmyeon tried to throw his way. The halls were beginning to fill with more people, Yixing and Junmyeon had to actively avoid bumping into people who seemed jet lagged out of their minds.

Yixing had so many questions to ask Dr Kim and if they could just reach the room earlier, then maybe Yixing could get one or two in.

The room was smaller than the auditorium that Junmyeon had shown him, but it still stretched with people. The gentle lilt of a few dozen conversations reached his ears as Junmyeon looked around the room from beside him. Yixing drank the last sip of his coffee as he did.

“Hmm, I told him to sit close to the doors- oh!” Junmyeon lifted a hand in the air and began to wave frantically. “Minseok!”

Yixing followed his gaze to the other side of the room where Dr Kim Minseok stood, probably chatting with someone. Yixing had seen photos of the man, but somehow, through Yixing’s own eyes, he looked much more personable. The corners of Yixing’s mouth lifted up before dropping again.

As Minseok moved to come across the room, he revealed just who he was talking to and Yixing’s lungs stopped working all at once, because right there, before Yixing’s eyes, was Do Kyungsoo, seeming just as shocked as Yixing felt.

And because of sleep deprivation and a myriad of other excuses that Yixing did not have the time to concoct, Yixing ran.

**Author's Note:**

> We're happy to reveal that the writer of Nothing's Set In Stone is [TpLoz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TpLoz). Please go give their other works a read!


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